Curry Chicken Salad with Yogurt (Quick and Easy!)

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This delicious alternative to traditional chicken salad is spiced with curry powder and made by swapping out part of the mayo for yogurt. Curry chicken salad with yogurt is a delicious recipe that is a personal favorite and one of our go-to lunches.

Easy Curry Chicken Salad with Yogurt

Once a week, as part of our weekly meal prep, we slow cook a whole chicken. This homemade chicken salad is the perfect recipe to use up that leftover chicken.

Classic chicken salad recipes use only mayo to create the creamy dressing. This chicken salad uses a 50/50 blend of creamy mayo and plain yogurt. In my opinion, this ratio of mayo with the addition of tangy yogurt creates the best chicken salad that’s a little lighter and more refreshing.

The curry flavor combined with a bit of cinnamon adds delicious flavor without being too overpowering. There’s a mixture of crunch from the nuts or apples and a perfect added sweetness from raisins.

The Ingredients with Easy Substitutions

This healthy chicken salad recipe is a great way to use up whatever ingredients you have on hand. We’ll share our full recipe below. But the good news is that this recipe is very flexible and you can make a darn good chicken salad using a variety of ingredients.

Cooked Chicken (Diced or Shredded) – Since we raise chickens on our homestead and cook one up every week, we almost always use chicken in this recipe. But diced turkey would be a good substitute.

Herbs and Spices – We love the Indian-inspired flavors of the curry and cinnamon in this chicken salad. But if that’s not your thing, you can swap out other fresh herbs and spices. From time to time, we do a version with a spice blend of fresh dill and garlic powder. The sky’s the limit when it comes to experimenting with flavors!

Yogurt/Mayonnaise – Our preference is to do a 50/50 blend of plain yogurt and mayonnaise. However, you could alternatively do all mayo or all yogurt (especially if using Greek yogurt). Sour cream could also be substituted for the yogurt but you may need to add something to thin out your creamy dressing a little bit.

A note on mayonnaise. We are very careful about the oils that we use in our food and prefer to use mayonnaise made with either olive oil or avocado oil. We like to either make it ourselves using this recipe or purchase mayonnaise from the grocery store made with avocado oil. Read those ingredients carefully.

Mix-Ins – This is where you can really get creative with your chicken salad! Our standard mix-ins are nuts (usually almonds or walnuts) with raisins and diced apple. To make it extra delicious, we love adding these cinnamon maple roasted almonds. Other common things to add to your chicken salad are: chopped red onion or green onions, halved green or red grapes, diced crunchy celery, grated carrots, cashews, and so many more options!

What Chicken is Best in Chicken Salad?

Any diced or shredded chicken will work for this simple curry chicken salad. We always prefer to use the leftover shredded meat from a slow cooked whole juicy chicken, but it’s an easy recipe to use up extra meat from a store-bought rotisserie chicken as well.

Alternatively, if you have a preference for either white meat or dark meat, any kind of chicken will work. You could use diced or shredded chicken from boneless chicken breasts or thighs or other individual cuts.

Which Yogurt Should I Use?

Any kind of plain yogurt will work. We like to use the regular yogurt that we make in our crockpot. But Greek yogurt chicken salad would be delicious too and is an easy way to add some extra protein to this chicken curry salad.

How Long will Chicken Salad Store?

Chicken salad will keep for up to 3-5 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator and is an easy option to whip out for a quick lunch. 

What’s the Best Way to Serve Curry Chicken Salad?

There are so many different ways that you could serve chicken salad. I’ve always been a big fan of chicken salad served in lettuce wraps or on top of a bed of greens. Other options for ways to serve this great recipe are:

• As a chicken salad sandwich
• On top of cucumber slices
• As a dip for tortilla or pita chips
• On a bed of lettuce or in lettuce cups

Curry Chicken Salad with Yogurt Recipe

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken, cooked and diced
2 tsp curry powder
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup plain yogurt
1 apple, diced
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped almonds

Directions:

1. On a cutting board, chop chicken (if not already shredded), dice apple and nuts. 

2. In a large bowl, add chicken mayonnaise, yogurt, curry powder, cinnamon, and salt.

3. Stir until combined.

4. Add diced apple, raisins and nuts to the mixing bowl. Mix everything together.

Serve and enjoy or refrigerate for later use!

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For more of our favorite easy lunch ideas:

Creamy Broccoli Cheddar Soup with Chicken
Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Chili
Dutch Oven Mac and Cheese
Sweet Potato Apple Hash with Sausage

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